Occupational Shaving Mug: The John Bull No. 1 Steam Engine with two open coaches

John Bull Steam Engine No. 1

This rare occupational shaving mug shows a clear image of a unique and historical train engine: The Robert L. Stevens or John Bull Steam Engine.

Fig. 7 shows the celebrated John Bull, which is now in the National Museum, Washington, D. C. It was the first engine for the Camden and Amboy Railroad, now a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed and built by Stephenson & Company, of Newcastle upon Tyne. This engine represents another step in locomotive construction, for while it somewhat resembles the De Witt Clinton, the cylinders are placed at the smoke box end of the engine, and the smoke box is of the same pattern as used to-day; both these improvements were embodied in the before mentioned Planet engine designed by Stephenson early in the year 1830. 

- From The Evolution of the American Locomotive

Close-up of the John Bull No 1 engine

Close-up of the two open coaches

The John Bull and train as it looked in 1831; drawn by Isaac Dripps in 1887.

Only a year after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&0)  tested Peter Cooper’s American  built engine in 1830, New Jersey’s fledgling Camden and Amboy Railroad ordered a locomotive for its service from Robert Stephenson and Company (C&A) in Newcastle, England, builders of the most modern and sophisticated engines in the world.  Upon completion and testing the engine was disassembled and crated up and dispatched to the States on a Trans-Atlantic Packet. 

The crates were disembarked on September 1.  The parts arrived without plans, drawings, or assembly instructions of any kind.  It was left to C&A engineer Isaac Dripps to figure out how the hell to put the damn thing together and get it to run.  He must have been pretty good because the company was able to run their tests in just two weeks.  The test proved two things—that the engine did move very well, at least over short distances, on rails, and that the boiler did not blow up. 

The company was scrambling to lay track and operating limited passenger and freight operations with horse drawn cars.  As a marketing and public relations ploy it was decided to run an excursion over the test track with the new engine on November 12.  State legislators, local dignitaries, and Napoleon’s nephew Prince Achille Murat and his American born wife, Catherine Willis Gray were among the guest passengers.  Mme. Murat was so eager to be remembered as the first woman to ride a steam-powered train in America that she jostled ahead of other ladies to step into one of the open coaches first.  And it must have worked, because here we are remembering her. 

A few weeks later, the engine finally entered revenue service.  The company designated it as No. 1 and named it Robert L. Stevens after the president of the C&A.  Railroad employees, however, were soon calling the engine Old John Bull in honor of its English origins.  That was soon shortened to John Bull.  Over time the nick name supplanted the official name.

- From John Bull Pulls his Weight

Soon after the engine arrived, the Camden and Amboy mechanics made the following changes and additions: As the railroad curves were very sharp, the coupling rods and cranks were removed and a lateral play of 1-½ in. given to the leading axle, to which a cowcatcher was connected. The wooden wheels were replaced by cast iron wheels. The dome was moved forward to the former man hole and the boiler lagged with wood. A bell was placed on the boiler and a headlight on the smoke box. A new tender was subsequently built, having a small cab on the rear for the accommodation of a brakeman, who, if anything went wrong with the cars, could signal the engine driver to stop. The engine then presented the appearance shown in Fig. 8. From a cut in the Railroad Gazette of March 9, 1877. it appears that a cab and a large wood-burning chimney were subsequently added, but both these were removed some time before the engine was placed in the United States National Museum.


As far as the writer can discover, this was the first engine equipped with a bell, headlight and cowcatcher, although bells were used on English locomotives as far back as 1827.

- From The Evolution of the American Locomotive 

The John Bull in 1877

On September 15, 1831 it ran for the first time—a test run—on this side of the Atlantic in New Jersey.  Exactly 150 years later it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution fired it up and ran it out on September 15, 1981.

- From John Bull Pulls his Weight

The John Bull today in the National Museum, Washington, D. C

More information:

John Bull Pulls his Weight
The Evolution of the American Locomotive
The National Museum of American History
Wikipedia: John Bull Locomotive

The Bundy Brothers Mug: Lost History and Wished-for Connections

NOTE: THIS MUG IS CURRENTLY FOR SALE ON EBAY

This somewhat unassuming occupational shaving mug is interesting for several reasons. First, it is the only mug I have ever seen for brothers. Second, is the name: Bundy. And finally, the depiction of an engine, tender and two rail cars. What was the occupation of the Bundy Brothers in relation to railroads? Who were the Bundy Brothers? Why only one mug for the both? Were they any relation to some of the more famous Bundys? (I don't even consider Ted.)

I will tell you right now that I found no answers to these questions. And what follows is simply a record of my fruitless research into the history of this mug. It is a story of lost history and wished for connections. However, the process itself is revealing in that it shows how often an object refuses to surrender its history. This was one of those mugs that I sensed has a history to it. (I still do.) Unfortunately, I was unable to find it. 

The Bundy bloodline in the United States has had many influential figures in politics and positions of power. There are those that believe the family has been allied with the Illuminati, an ancient secret society that supposedly works to control the affairs of the world powers. The following quote, from The Bundy Bloodline: Families in the world who are allied with the Illuminati, references several "Bundy Brothers":

Most Americans would not recognize the Bundy family as a powerful elite family. However, during recent history two Bundy brothers held the key positions that controlled most of the information that was fed to U.S. Presidents during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. When Johnson took over after J. F. Kennedy was assassinated McGeorge Bundy was in the key position as Nat. Sec. Advisor to determine what the President did and didn’t hear. His brother was in a key State Dept. position. Both Bundy brothers were also fraternal brothers of the Illuminati Order of the Skull and Bones. Interestingly, Jonas Mills Bundy (1835-1891) was a key advisor to President Grant, President Garfield, and President Chester A. Arthur. McGeorge Bundy and his brother William P. Bundy have held important C. F. R. and important Bilderberger positions.

As much as I would love to be possession of one of these Bundy Brothers' shaving mug, I can find no connection to the railroad. If, for example, it were a Skull and Bones on the mug, I would make an argument otherwise.

Next potential candidate is The Bundy Manufacturing Company, the earliest precursor to what would later be known as IBM. It was founded by two brothers, Willard and Harlow. Willard invented the first time clock. He and his brother were commonly known as "the Bundy Brothers". As tempting as it might be to say this was their shaving mug, the fact that there is the occupational image is a train and not some sort of time-keeping device or a simple clock, rules these famous Bundy Brothers out as past owners. 

Looking for connections between a railroad and the name Bundy, I discovered there was a William "Black Bill" Bundy Jr. whose family operated a station on an "Underground Railroad" in the mid-1800s to help runaway slaves making their way to freedom in the North. Again, a fascinating bit of history, but there was no brother. And the railroad image on the mug, while clever, would have been too revealing. 

Finally, there was a company in Cooperstown, New York in the late 1800s named Bundy Brothers & Cruttenden, which specialized in "dry goods, wallpaper, furniture and carpets." In the transcript proceeding from the Court of Appeals: New York: Vol.83 (1907), the State of New York is appealing a "certificate of convenience and necessity" that was previously granted to the Cooperstown and Northern Railway Company. Cruttenden is asked about his business with the Bundy Brothers and what impact the train will have on his companies freighting costs. And again, it would be wonderful to discover that Cruttenden and the Bundy Brothers later bought into this railroad and thus establishing a connection to the shaving mug with the train. But I can find no evidence to back this up. 

Sadly, that is all I can find through my research. A series of exciting possibilities that do not connect. And so the history of the mug is lost. I had hoped that the "Bundy Brothers" would have left a small trace of their lives in the world, something to explain the train on their shaving mug. But, as is the case with so many shaving mugs, the mug is all we have. I wonder if the Bundy Bros would have ever imagined that many years after their death their curious shaving mug would be the source of unanswerable riddles on a webpage of the Internet. 

Railroad Brotherhoods History and Their Fraternal Shaving Mugs by Joseph Albanese

The following text and noted images are from the document, Railroad Brotherhoods History and Their Fraternal Shaving Mugs by Joseph Albanese (courtesy of the JLT Archive). It is presented here for educational purposes only in order to preserve a valuable document of Shaving Mug History. All other images are from the JLT Collection.

RAILROAD BROTHERHOODS 

"Along with many other pioneering labor organizations in the nineteenth-century America, organizations of railroad workers took the name "brotherhoods" in token of their partly fraternal purposes. The most powerful of the railroad brotherhoods was those formed in the operating trades-those directly involved with moving trains. These included the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (founded in 1863), the Order of Railway Conductors (1868), the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (1873), and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (founded in 1883 as the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen). Sometimes grouped with "the Big Four" was the Switchmen's Union (1894), "who were responsible for making up trains and for controlling the track switches within a yard. Numerous other unions were founded to represent non-operating railroad employees such as the trackmen (1887), railway clerks (1899), and sleeping car porters (1925). Though the operating brotherhoods represented less than one-fifth of all railroad employees, they dominated the history of organized labor in the railroad industry.

Although rail transportation has declined, the fraternal shaving mugs of these brotherhoods represent a period of our history when railroads were a central part of our daily lives."

Photo by J. Albanese

JLT Collection

JLT Collection

JLT Collection

BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN 

"Lodge No. 1 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was organized by Joshua Leach and 10 Erie firemen at Port Jarvis, N.Y., in 1873. The following year, delegates from 12 lodges met and formed the "BLF Insurance Association" to provide sickness and funeral benefits for locomotive firemen. In 1906, BLF changed its name to Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and joined in bargaining with the three other major railway unions. In 1919, with 116,990 members the BLF&E led the fight for an eight-hour day for rail workers, and in 1923 pressed successfully for passage of the Railway Labor Act Historically, before a railroad worker would become a fireman, he would have to "pay his dues" by completing various jobs, including: Engine wiper, empties the clinker pit and perform other types of drudgery. If the railroad worker performed these tasks at a satisfactory level, he will eventually be promoted and placed on the "extra fireman" list, and eventually can move up to become a regular fireman. The fireman's primary job was to shovel coal into the firebox and ensure that the boiler maintained sufficient steam pressure. The locomotive Fireman also served as a "copilot to the engineer". He was responsible for knowing the signals, curves and grade changes to anticipate the amount of steam needed."

Photo by J. Albanese

BROTHERHOOD OF RAILWAY CLERKS 

"Railway clerks organized into a union in 1899, and became the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks in 1904. The clerks were affiliated with the American Federation of Labor from 1900-1901, and then after 1908. The BRC was a weak railway union with a small (around 5,000 people) membership in its early years of existence. That situation changed during the First World War, when the federal government took control of the nation's railway system, and put it under the management of the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) which ran the nation's railroads from January 1918 through March 1920. The USRA recognized the rights of railway employees to join unions, and raised the clerks' salaries."

Photo by J. Albanese

JLT Collection

JLT Collection

JLT Collection

ORDER OF RAILWAY CONDUCTORS AND BRAKEMEN 

"In The spring of 1868 TJ. "Tommie" Wright and a small band of conductors formed the first conductors' union, known as "Division Number 1 Conductors' Brotherhood" at Amboy, Illinois. Word spread quickly, and by November 1868, the union's first convention was held in Columbus, Ohio, where conductors from the U.S. and Canada adopted the name "Order of Railway Conductors of America".ln 1885, the ORC directed its leaders to aid in the negotiating agreements with carriers, a revolutionary idea for the time. In 1890, the ORC adopted a strike clause and began a militant policy of fighting for the welfare of the conductors. In 1942, the Order of Sleeping Car Conductors amalgamated with ORC, and in 1954 the organization was renamed the order of Railroad Conductors and Brakemen to reflect its diverse membership. Railroad conductors coordinate the efforts of all crew members involved in freight and passenger rail transport. They review schedules of arrivals and departures for passenger trains and freight shipments. They are responsible for ensuring the safety of each car and its passengers as well as collecting fares and tickets. Prior to departure they worked with the engineer to ensure the smoothest trip possible."

Photo by J. Albanese

source

SWITCHMEN'S UNION OF NORTH AMERICA 

"In 1870, switchmen employed on railroads in the Chicago area worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for $50.00. Helpless in bargaining with their employers individually, they banded together in August of that year to form the Switchmen's Association. In 1886, switchmen met in Chicago and formed the Switchmen's Mutual Aid Association, but a lockout on the Chicago Northwestern Railroad and a disastrous strike in 1888 on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ended the Association in July 1894. Later that year, however, a meeting in Kansas City, MO., led to the establishment of the Switchmen's Union of North America. A switchman is the railroad worker responsible for controlling the track switches within a yard."